Writer/Producer Judi Ann Mason Dies at 55

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Playwright Judi Ann Mason has died. The Shreveport native died unexpectedly Wednesday night in Los Angeles where she resided. In addition to being a playwright, Mason was a screenwriter and television producer.


She wrote numerous award-winning plays, including "Living Fat," which earned her the Norman Lear Award for comedy writing from the Kennedy Center. She won the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award for "A Star Ain't Nothin' but a Hole in Heaven."

She also produced scripts for movies and television shows, including "Good Times," "A Different World," "Beverly Hills, 90210," "Guiding Light," "I'll Fly Away," the Emmy Award-winning "Sophie and the Moonhanger" and "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit."

Her older sister, Shreveport resident Viola Johnson, said, according to the doctor's report, Mason's aorta burst while she was at home, which led to her death. She was 55.

"It's just shocking. It's just terrible. It's no way I can put it into words, but I do know that God is in control of everything, and I'm just putting my trust in him," Johnson said.

Mason's most recent local involvement came last fall, when she served as the inaugural national honorary chair of the first Southern Black Theatre Festival.
Mason graduated from Grambling State University in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and drama.

Funeral arrangements are pending an autopsy, which family members said could take up to a week to complete.

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